I began by prepping Kristen’s skin with La Roche Posay’s Skin Conditioning Solution and moisturizing with Dermalogica Active Moist.  Her face was primed for under eye concealer with Dermalogica Multivitamin Power Firm and for foundation with Smashbox Color Correcting Green Primer.  I started off with the eyes because alot of the products used produced fallout.

Eyes:

• TFSI
• Blackground paintpot
• Push the Edge pigment
• Indian Ink e/s to darken inner/outer corners
• Black e/s from Wet n Wild Greed Palette to darken inner/outer corners
• Peach e/s from Wet n Wild Greed Palette to blend crease
• Gold gel liner on center of lid
• Sugarpill Goldilux on center of lid
• Blanc Type e/s on browbone
• Nylon e/s in tear duct
• Wet n Wild black e/s smudged on lash line
• Feline eye kohl on upper/lower water line
• Indian Ink e/s and Goldilux smudged on lower lashline
• Sephora Lash Plumper Mascara
• Night Maneouvers e/s on brows

Face:

• Eve Pearl Salmon Concealer in Fair
• Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage Concealer in Shade 1 on blemishes
• OCC Skin Airbrush makeup in Y1
• Prep and Primer powder
• Blot Powder in medium
• Emote blush for contour
• Instant Chic Blush
• Silver Dusk Iridescent Powder for highlight

Lips:

• Eve Pearl Nude Beach Lipstick
• Sephora Precious Pink Lipgloss

Face:

Smashbox Primer – Green
Coastal Scents Concealer palette
OCC Skin airbrush makeup in R3
MAC Prep and Prime powder
Harmony blush to contour
Gingerly blush
Soft and Gentle MSF

Eyes:

TFSI
Painterly p/p
Blanc Type e/s
Soft Brown e/s
Swiss Chocolate e/s
Wet and Wild black e/s from Greed palette
Naked e/s from UD Naked palette
Vanilla pigment
Fascinating eye kohl
Ben Nye Cake liner in black
Sephora mascara
Ardell #301 corner lashes

Lips:

Aquaphor
Cherry l/l
Rimmel l/l in East End Snob
OCC Liptars in NSFW and Anime
Vellum e/s

Vanity Palette Swatches

The Vanity Palette is my favorite of the two, and in my opinion has the most usable shades.

The mattes:  The lightest shade, which is repeated in the Greed Palette, is almost identical to my skintone.  It’s quite similar to MAC’s Blanc Type, but the formulation of this and the other mattes in the palettes seems superior.  There is no chalkiness and fallout that I’ve come to expect from matte eyeshadows.  The colors apply smooth and creamy, without skipping.  The second shade is similar, but slightly cooler than, MAC’s Soft Brown.  It will be an ideal blending/transition color.  The third shade is a red brown – the closest dupe I could find is MAC’s Handwritten – and the WnW shade has FAR better pigmentation.  The mattes are definitely the standouts.

The shimmers:  I LOVE the 1st color.  To me it looks like if MAC’s Shroom and Ricepaper had a baby, this would be it – a perfect highlight shade.  The second gold shade is reminiscent of MAC’s Goldmine, but the color payoff is poor.  The third shade is a shimmery brown bronze.  Truthfully I don’t think I’ll get much use of the last two shimmer shades.

Greed Palette Swatches

The mattes: The first shade is identical to the lightest shade from the previous palette.  The second shade is a peach-y one.  I’ve heard that it is similar to MAC’s Texture, which I don’t own.  It will be a great transition shade.  The third is a standard matte black – I’d like to test this against MAC’s Carbon and see if it has less fallout.

The shimmers: The first shade is a sort of Periwinkle with multi-colored shimmer.  As you can probably tell, I got crap color payoff from this shade.  The second shade is a peachy color with shimmer – nothing special.  The third shade is a black silver shimmer.  In my experience these type of shades usually don’t translate to the skin the same way they look in the pan, so I was surprised that there was still shimmer in the swatch.  It would be interesting to see if it will retain the shimmer on the eye after blending.

I also bought two nail polishes – at 1.99 a piece and 50% off the second, who could resist?!

Inferno, Shield, 2 coats

Inferno is a flaming orange that flashes yellowish gold shimmer.  Very fall appropriate.  Shield is a bronzey taupe with bronze and red shimmer.

Face:

• Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage in Shade 1
• Benefit Erase Paste in Fair (under eyes)
• OCC Skin Airbrush Foundation in Y1
• MAC Prep and Prime setting powder
• Emote blush to contour
• Plum Foolery Blush
• Soft and Gentle MSF

Eyes:

• TFSI
• Painterly p/p
• Grand Entrance e/s
• Cranberry e/s
• Beauty Marked e/s
• UD Naked e/s
• Blanc Type e/s
• Femme Fi e/s
• Amber Lights e/s
• Fascinating eye kohl
• Blacktrack f/l
• MUFE Smoky Lash
• Omega and Coquette e/s on brows

Lips:

• Crushed Bougainvillea CCB

Face:

• Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage in Shade 1
• Benefit Erase Paste in Fair (under eyes)
• OCC Skin Airbrush Foundation in Y1
• MAC Prep and Prime setting powder
• Emote blush to contour
• MUFE HD Blush
• Melba blush
• By Candelight MSF

Eyes:

• TFSI
• Painterly p/p
• Sushi Flower e/s
• Lilac Touch e/s
• Indian Ink e/s
• Satellite Dreams e/s
• Blanc Type e/s
• Vanilla pigment
• Rave pearlglide e/l
• Fascinating eye kohl
• Stila All Day Waterproof liquid e/l
• MUFE Smoky Lash
• Omega and Coquette e/s on brows

Lips:

• Hue l/s

Face:

• Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage in Shade 1
• Benefit Erase Paste in Fair (under eyes)
• OCC Skin Airbrush Foundation in Y1
• MAC Prep and Prime setting powder
• Emote blush to contour
• Florida Cremeblend blush
• Azalea Blossom Ombre blush
• By Candelight MSF
• Azalea Blossom ombre blush

Eyes:

• TFSI
• Painterly p/p
• Typographic e/s
• Woodwinked e/s
• Carbon e/s
• Swiss Chocolate e/s
• Soft Brown e/s
• MSF Natural in Light Medium
• Femme Fi e/s
• Tarte Emphaseyes Liner in black
• Fascinating eye kohl
• Stila All Day Waterproof Liquid Liner
• MUFE Smoky Lash
• Omega/Coquette e/s on brows

Lips:

• Sephora l/l
• Nude Pink l/s

I think I sort of “rediscovered” pink blush today.  I’m always worried that using pink on my cheeks will enhance the natural redness in my skin, so I usually opt for peachy colors when it comes to blush.  However, I decided it was time to finally pull out my Crushed Bougainvillea CCB and give it a try.  I am SO happy with the results!  The color seemed much more glowy and “from within” than some of the normal choices I opt for.  This may be the start of something new for me.

Face:

• Laura Mercier Secret Camouflage in Shade 1
• Benefit Erase Paste in Fair (under eyes)
• OCC Skin Airbrush Foundation in Y1
• MAC Prep and Prime setting powder
• Emote blush to contour
• Crushed Bougainvillea CCB
• Blonde MSF

Eyes:

• Quite Natural p/p on brows
• TFSI
• Painterly p/p
• Grand Entrance e/s
• Wedge e/s
• Blanc Type e/s
• Stila All Day Liquid Eyeliner
• Fascinating Eye Kohl
• MUFE Smoky Lash mascara

Lips:

• Aquaphor
• Crushed Bougainvillea CCB  - I tapped this in with my finger and loved the effect – very subtle and not too-perfect

These swatches were all applied with a synthetic brush and no primer.  These pictures were taken without flash.

L to R top row: Painterly p/p, Girlfriendly p/p, Coral Crepe p/p, Fresco Rose p/p, Quite Natural p/p, Benefit Skinny Jeans cream e/s, Delft p/p, MUFE Flash Color No.3, Blackground p/p

L to R bottom row: Bare Study p/p, Benefit RSVP cream e/s, Kryolan White Aquacolor, Kryolan Iridescent Plum Aquacolor

I realized after I started posting this that I had left out one of my browns, Constructivist paint pot, so I swatched it with the rest of my browns and took another picture.

L to R: Constructivist p/p, Quite Natural p/p, Benefit Skinny Jeans cream e/s, Blackground p/p

So here’s some closeups of the swatches.

L to R: Painterly p/p, Girlfriendly p/p, Coral Crepe p/p, Fresco Rose p/p, Quite Natural p/p

• Painterly p/p: Painterly is my go to base and it’s probably easy to see why – it’s very close to my skintone so it will work with any color eyeshadow and because it’s matte and very opaque, it does a good job of concealing darkness/redness on eyelids as well.  Nice smooth texture.

• Girlfriendly p/p: This was a limited edition product (I hate when they do that!).  It’s a matte, dusty pink that would work well with pinks, burgundies, purples, and even browns.  The texture is identical to Painterly.  I don’t reach for this often but I should.

• Coral Crepe p/p: Coral Crepe is a satin-y bright coral.  It looks great under oranges and corals (of course) and brightens up browns as well.  The color is a bit sheer.  Unfortunately this was a limited edition as well, which makes no sense to me – this is definitely a color that is missing in MAC’s permanent line.

• Fresco Rose p/p: This is a light pink shade with a soft shimmer.  Truthfully I don’t think I’ve used it but once or twice – it’s almost identical to Girl Friendly but has the added shimmer.

• Quite Natural p/p: Quite natural is a very matte brown.  The texture is a bit difficult to blend as you can see in the swatch – it gets a little clumpy and isn’t easy to smooth out.  This could be used on brows as well.

• Constructivist p/p: One of my most used and loved paint pots.  This is a pearly brown (not shimmery, but pearly) with a nice smooth texture that blends out great.  I use it as a base for smokey brown eyes or shimmery browns.

L to R: Benefit Skinny Jeans cream e/s, Delft p/p, MUFE Flash Color No. 3, Blackground p/p

• Benefit Skinny Jeans Creaseless Cream e/s: By far, my favorite cream eyeshadow… Skinny Jeans is a silver brown color with multi-colored shimmer.  It look great with browns, silvers/grays, black.  It also looks fantastic by itself, blended out.  The texture of this is amazing – super creamy and easy to blend.

• Delft p/p: Delft is a dark blue with silver shimmer.  I find it to be a bit sheer because I can see my skin color showing through, but otherwise it’s a good base for blues, greens, and even purples.

• MUFE Flash Color No. 3: This silver flash color from MUFE is very creamy, very metallic, and very opaque.  However, it is not a good base for keeping your eyeshadow on and tends to slide around.  This product is better suited for special occasions, Halloween, or New Years when you’re looking for something to stick your glitter on to.  That said, if you can find an effective way to keep this product from creasing, it literally looks like liquid silver on the skin.  Amazing!

• Blackground p/p: Blackground is a creamy black base with multi-colored shimmer.  It’s more blue-black than true-black, which is apparent when it’s blended out, so if you’re looking for something very very dark, this might not be the best color.  This is an all-around good base for smokey eyes.

L to R: Barestudy p/p, Benefit RSVP cream e/s, Kryolan White Aquacolor, Kryolan Iridescent Plum Aquacolor

• Barestudy p/p: Barestudy is a beige/champagne color with shimmer.  I really do not like the texture of the product once it’s on my lid and so don’t use it often.  This is a great base for golds and neutrals that have shimmer.  Some people like to use this as their everyday base, but I don’t like it for two reasons – it has color, and it’s not matte, so it’s going to interfere with the color of the shadow that’s being applied on top of it.

• Benefit RSVP Creaseless cream e/s: This is another champagne color similar to Barestudy, but far superior in terms of texture.  Benefit’s cream eyeshadows are really amazing products.

• Kryolan White Aquacolor: Aquacolors are water-activated and this white one is a great base for bright colors, true opaque whites, or any shade that you need a white base to show its true color (for example, turquoises can look muddy when they’re applied directly to your skin, but they look bright and exactly like they do in the pan when they’re applied on a white base).

• Kryolan Iridescent Plum Aquacolor: Iridescent Plum is a gorgeous, blue violet with iridescent shimmer.  This is a great base for purples or blues.  These Aquacolors have a great consistency and blend nicely.

On this one I was just messing around, and I tried smokey eyes different ways on each eye.

On this one I was just messing around, and I tried smokey eyes different ways on each eye.

I definitely like this side better.

Nude matte browns…

This look used only two pigments: Sunpepper and Provence.

Blue-eyed girls, this pigment is calling your name!

Smokey grey eye and some bad skin

Cut-crease…

I think this is probably the best cut crease I’ve ever done.  I got a lot of compliments on it and I was really happy with how it turned out!

At $6.50, it’s priced affordably.  It’s definetly sleek and sexy looking.  All of my pencils should fit in either of the ends perfectly.  And because it’s MAC, it should be awesome.  This story should have a totally happy ending, right?

Wrong.

So first of all this sharpener is made out of the cheapest, thinnest plastic.  It just feels like it’s going to break.  I guess that is entirely a subjective thing, but I really don’t want any of my products, even something like a pencil sharpener, to feel that it is so fragile that I could snap it by clenching my fingers too tight.  The entire sharpener is 3 parts – the large sharpener at one end, the small sharpener at the other, and the clear part in the middle to separate them and store the shavings.  This is a nice idea…  But unfortunately the sharpeners don’t screw into the clear plastic center, they merely press on tight.  And I’m using that word tight very lightly; I’m constantly pulling one end off by accident and then the shavings end up everywhere.

Besides just the sloppy design flaws, my biggest issue overall is with the sharpeners themselves.  When you sharpen your pencils, you want them to come out looking similar to what they where when you first bought them, perhaps a tad sharper.  The best way I could describe how your pencils are going to come out is…  Well, do you remember sharpening your wooden No. 2′s back in the day?  Those traditional pencil sharpeners gave you a long point with lots of exposed lead, which is very good when you’re writing with a pencil -  but it’s terrible when you’re using it for makeup.  This sharpener eats up a ton of your pencil in the process, and unfortunately, you don’t end up with a precise tip, but a long tip with product that will break off very easily.  The blade also continues to cut into the product while you sharpen, further weakening the tip.  Oh and by the way, it completely mutilated – but didn’t in the least bit sharpen – my NYX Jumbo Pencil.

Look at how nasty these tips look!

In conclusion I guess I would have to say I just really, REALLY do not recommend buying this sharpener from MAC.  In my experience, my pencils look chewed up, the tips break, and I’m not getting any kind of smooth, sharp pencil tip that’s useful for makeup.  So I’m back to my search for a good sharpener.  I don’t know if I’ll be heading back to the drug store, but I’ll definitely be doing more research this time!